


A little less annoying

by flowergirl



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Developing Relationship, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:20:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27434191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowergirl/pseuds/flowergirl
Summary: Max and Dan through the years.
Relationships: Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen
Kudos: 39





	A little less annoying

A little less annoying

2016 

Ambitious. Thats what they called him. Talented but too young and impulsive some said. His dedication and fierceness brought him where he was at this young age. Being one of two drivers for Redbull in Formula 1 was pretty impressive and an achievement he could be proud of in this stage of his career. Winning races was his motivation, he didn’t think the burned soil he might leave on the way mattered in any way. 

When he met Daniel for the first time the other man was trying to be nice and showed him around, introducing him to the RedBull philosophy and tried to make him feel safe in the new surrounding. Most of the stuff Max already knew but he was polite enough not to tell him. So he acted as if everything was new to him and tried to be over with all that teammate fuss as soon as possible. In the end it didn’t matter if they came along or not. What matters was if he got the results the team needed and to proof himself. And he was pretty confident to do so, thank you very much!

After the race the garage was filled with mechanics packing up all their stuff and it reminded him of a busy anthill in some way. One last short debrief and the race weekend would be over. Time was running in a different pace on these weekends, he thought. It was a succesful weekend, he outraced his teammate and Christian was happy with his performance, so everything should be fine (right?). His Dad had already left straight after the race and went home, not without telling him „Keep on pushing, boy!“ though. 

He met with Christian and the mechanics in front of the meeting room and entered it, one of the last rooms to be packed up after the race. He sat down and chatted with Jack, one of the engineers. Jack was quite sarcastic himself so they got along rather quick. He was just laughing about a whispered comment about something Christian was saying and he giggled. When he looked up he saw Daniel entering the room, being late as always. 

When Daniel Ricciardo enters a room, he shines so bright and enlightens every room, he thought annoyed.

Big Smile, waving off his delay with a simply „Im so sorry guys, won’t happen again!“, when everybody (including him) knew better, and so enthusiastic that everybody in room already forgot that he was 7 minutes late. 

After the meeting Daniel and him left the meeting room at the same time and when they reached the door, they had to squeeze together to fit through. Too close for him and when Daniel started talking he felt his breath against his skin.

„Hey Mate, how are you doing? Quite a lot, huh?“, Daniel asked and his smile was so genuine and real, his brown eyes so encouraging and for a second Max thought, he would have told him everything he wanted to know.  
He could feel Daniels right hand on his lower back, guiding him ( Max wasn’t in need in any art of guidance, thanks mate!) through the anthill of garage.

„Im good, thanks! Im happy with the result and the team is great as far as I can say!“ Max answered, both of them stepping away to make place for a mechanic carrying some big tool. 

He knew that that was a superficial answer but he couldn’t think of a better reply that fast. 

„ Oh so the media training they gave you is working, great stuff!“, Daniel laughed and patted his shoulder. „ Its okay mate, we’ll get there!“,he added. They arrived at their driver rooms, Daniel winked one last time before he disappeared into his room to grab his stuff. 

2017

They started the new season together which meant a lot of press work and doing some marketing videos for Redbull, including loads of laughing from Daniels side and being a little less restrained mom Max’ side. People working at Redbull are loud, straightforward with showing emotions so Max had to readjust a bit. He did not twich anymore when someone patted his shoulder from behind or gave him a spontaneous hug after a race win, so that’s a plus for him! 

It still wasn’t something he fully understood but he could accept other people living by this. As long as no one expects him to be a big smiley running-around, telling all his private stuff to everybody on the team he was perfectly fine. 

And he surprisingly feels comfortable and loosend up over time!

As soon as the team realized that he wasn’t as moody or grumpy as he appeared they decided to ignore that and sometimes pushed him out of his comfort zone.

Against his imagination Daniel and him got along pretty well and even though he’d rather bite his tongue than admitting that, he ´s kinda grateful having Daniel as a teammate. In nerve wracking situations, fucked up race results, Daniels positive attitude and his resilience has a calming influence on him. 

He can’t remember after which race it started but it became somewhat usual that they started hanging out together in one of their driver rooms after the race for a bit before going back to their hotel rooms or flight home. Sometimes they talked, Daniel mostly about Australia and Max listening, too tired to talk himself but Dans mimic soothing his churning mind. Sometimes they’d listened to music or watched silly videos. 

The couch in the room fully filled with too Redbull drivers stretched all over it and too tired to move, but too awake and excited to be alone. It became a ritual. At some point Christian would walk in for the briefing request and and ended these peaceful moments. Sometimes Max thought, these were the moments to catch breath, someone pressed „pause“ so that they could inhale one deep breath before they got back to the hustle and bustle of the Formular 1 Cirquit.

2018

When the race ended the atmosphere was tense. And for some reason that happened quite a lot after the last few races. It built up slowly but reaching the peak was inevitable, he thought. 

Max was upset, his race finish was good but still, he felt tense and defensive when he reached the reporters for the interviews. Daniel leaving for Renault next season made him (unwanted) a Renault expert and he hated it.  
„How do you think will the motor of the Renault car improve next season and do you think Daniel will have an advantage compared to you because he will drive a car with a familiar motor?“, was just one of the silly questions he got that day and it pulled on his nerves. 

He kept it short and walked vigorously back towards the garage. 

„ You’re doing an amazing job in there Max. On and off pit. You can be so proud of what you achieve and how you manage to push these stupid questions away! Hang in there, it will be over soon!“, Christian smiled sadly and pulled him in for a quick hug. 

Max shrugged and thanked him. What else can he do? 

When he entered his driver room it was empty. He grabbed his cap and left again; no reason to stay is a reason to go, he thought and huffed. 

As he finished third it was time to go to the press conference anyway. Lewis and Charles were already there and he sat down. 

„ I really hope it won’t take ages today!“ Lewis sighed next to him and rolled his eyes, Charles had put on his media trained happy-boy smile. 

He wasn’t paying much attention to the questions going towards Lewis and Charles, he was already thinking of going home. And to sleep there for a week straight. 

„ I have two question for Max please“, he then heard the reporter say. 

„Max, it seems like you are the number one driver now in the team now Daniel made public that he’ll drive for Renault next season, is that the reason why you had your pit stop first, even though Daniel was higher in the ranks? Might that be the reason why you finished third and not Daniel? And the other question is, what do you think could be the reason Daniel Ricciardo signed at Renault for next reason? Do you feel responsible? Thank you!“

Max was speechless. He never was a man of many words but that normally didn’t mean that there was nothing he thought of answering. 

Lewis next to him shifted „Man these are some awkward questions to ask“, he whispered, Max wasn’t sure if anybody heard it, but appreciated the effort.

And here, Ladies and Gentlemen, he though to himself, can you see other people dropping problems into his well sorted mind circle ( without any problems) to annoy him. Simply that. 

„Hm!“, he made a sound, buying himself more time to think of a plausible and diplomatic answer. 

„ Well, first of all I’d like to congratulate for these questions! They are, by far the most annoying ones I heard today, and I really thought that wasn’t possible, but you made it!“, he then said and he realized how pissed he sounded. He intended to sound more sarcastic, but his greatest asset ( next to driving ofcourse) had just left the room apparently. 

„No seriously, I do think Daniel and I both generally deserve to finish on the highest rank possible. I won’t spread out our team tactic now, just because you try to provoke me here, but the team must have had a good reason for changing the order of the boxenstops, no? And I think we are all grown up enough to not base our team strategies on being upset with one driver and punishing him for that. Daniel gave his whole heart to Redbull for years and I’m confident that the team will give everything for him until the end. And as for your other question, I am not the one in charge of extending driver contracts so no, I do not feel responsible!“, he ended.  
The room was quiet and everyone was watching him closely, but he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction to break under this pressure. He let his view curve and he knew that he looked a bit unease, maybe like an arrogant ass right now, but that was his intention. Showing them how unpleased he was! 

Lewis next to him giggled. „Great stuff man!“ and for some reason he heard Daniels voice inside of his head „ Oh so the media training they gave you is working, great stuff!“. 

The pressconference was rather short after that. Max didn’t mind. He was sure that Christian wouldn’t mind this and Helmuth could just kindly kiss his bum. 

2018, later that night

Home. Monaco. Max felt how his chest loosened up and it felt like the first time in days that he could breath. 

All Christian had said was that he’ll deal stuff with Helmuth and that they will make sure that these pushy questions will be stoped by their media department. It wasn’t Max business to deal with that topic and Christian was sorr, that they left him in the rain like that. 

His was sitting on his balcony when his phone rang. Daniel.  
He picked up. „Maxy“, he said. Neither if them said anything else. 

Max could hear Daniels breathing and he could imagine how Daniel was hanging on his sofa, wildly spread, his head maybe even hanging upside down. 

„Im sorry that they ask these fucking stupid questions!“, Daniel finally said. 

„Its okay Dan! I don’t mind a lot!“

„You said it! You fucking finally said it!“ Max could fell Daniel beaming on the other side of the line. 

„Hm what? What did I say?“, he was confused. And tired, maybe both.

„ You called me Dan! You never called me like that Maxy, I’m so proud of you!“, Dan said.  
What he serious right now? That man was so slippy with his mental leaps that it made him feel all dizzy. 

„ Did I? Im sure I must’ve called you Dan before. I…“ Max said eventually but Daniel interrupted.  
„No you did not you grumpy dickhead! Don’t play it low now! We finally reached the next step on our relationship leather“ he joked. 

„What leather? I don’t own one!“, Max answered helplessly and tried holding back another yawn.

„Mate don’t go breaking my heart there“. He sounded teasingly and the relaxed sound of his voice lulled him even more into his tiredness. 

„m’ tired Daniel“. Max yawned again. 

„Go to sleep then Maxy. I’ll see you soon“, he said softly. 

2020

His bed was comfy and warm as usual and his pillow soft and just like he wanted it to be.  
If you asked Max it was quite a challenge to find the right pillow, one that wouldn’t make his neck feel stiff and painful in the morning . It was hard to find proper one and even more harder to keep  
(because honestly, who would walk with a big, fluffy pillow under the arm out of a hotel?). 

Daniel next to him shifted and pressed his body a bit closer to his back, his face pressed into neck. His right arm wrapped around his waist and his hand right over his heart on his chest. The touch was so gentle and still, it made him feel so domestic and happy, a little more liberated.  
He could feel the warm breath and the light snore in his neck and it gave him goosebumps. Daniels very cold feet pressed against his own legs (how on earth did have cold feet? ! It was so hot under their blanket!) that he squirmed a little and in result he got pulled in even closer. 

He didn’t mind. Daniel presence made everything a little less annoying, he thought. 

Where Max was stuck in his head Daniel would only have to cup his face, telling him off for being silly again and a kiss on his forehead and the world was a little less upsetting for him.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :)
> 
> I felt inspired, hope you like it.  
> Its made up, nothin real - you know what I mean!
> 
> Take care! xx
> 
> you can follow me on Tumblr 'itsflowergirlsblog'


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